Project overview
Artist Alex Chinneck returned to brick for A Week at the Knees, a sculptural façade created for Clerkenwell Design Week 2025. Installed in Charterhouse Square, the work reimagines the form of a Georgian building, appearing to fold gracefully at the knees. Rising 5.5 metres and spanning 13.5 metres, the piece invites visitors to move around it, revealing a building seemingly caught mid-motion.
At the heart of the project was a technical challenge: to make a rigid material behave as though it could bend. FabSpeed played a central role in realising this ambition, working closely with Chinneck to develop a brick skin capable of flowing with the underlying steel frame. Precision-cut from Michelmersh’s First Quality Multi and Floren Albion bricks, the façade was preassembled into fine units just 15 cm deep, engineered to curve seamlessly without breaking the visual rhythm.
FabSpeed’s approach combined advanced off-site prefabrication with meticulous hand-finishing, delivering components to site with tolerances tight enough to preserve the illusion. This ensured both the structural reliability of the freestanding sculpture and the expressive control required to maintain its uncanny sense of movement.
The choice of Michelmersh bricks was integral to the outcome. The Floren Albion wirecut brick, with its blend of soft greys, pinks and reds, sits alongside the deeper oranges and purples of the Freshfield Lane First Quality Multi. Together, they give the surface a layered texture that echoes the varied tones of surrounding Georgian brickwork while reinforcing the sculpture’s handmade character.
Additional bespoke elements, including curved Crittall windows and a bending steel drainpipe, were integrated with equal precision. Beneath its playful appearance lies a rigorously detailed work, where artistry and construction meet. For FabSpeed, the project showcased how technical ingenuity and craft can unlock new possibilities for brick, reframing a traditional material in a contemporary and unexpected way.
